Following the meeting between Chilean President Gabriel Boric and the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, four agreements were signed to strengthen the agricultural sector with new products, including a protocol for fresh Chilean apricots and peaches to enter the Chinese market.

The agreements include three Memoranda of Understanding on Phytosanitary Certification, Cooperation on Organic Food Certification and the development of a Chinese Demonstration Farm in Chile.

"We agreed on something very important for the transition to green agriculture. An agreement on organic products. But we also achieved that our peaches from the central zone and the apricot that is so important in Valparaíso or in the Coquimbo region, will also be part of the fruit supply for the country," says Chilean Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela.

This brings new opportunities for stone fruit producers and exporters, given China’s high consumption demand.

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Iván Marambio, president of ASOEX, who has been part of President Boric's delegation on the visit to China, added that "we are very pleased with the signing of the protocol that will allow the entry of all our stone fruits to the Chinese market. With this signature, not only do our exports to this market grow, but Chile becomes the country that has all its fruits approved for entry," said Marambio.

The negotiation will be finalized once a technical visit by inspectors from the Department of Animal and Plant Quarantine of the General Administration of Customs of China, scheduled for November of this year, is completed.

According to the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture statement, once the audit is in conformity, exports are expected to start this season.